Extend kitchen in to car port, merge kitchen and dining room, or move?

3 years ago

Hi,

I’m after some advice if possible.
My husband and I bought our 1929 flat roofed Art Deco semi in 2016. We love it, but the location could be better (busy road, lack of community feel) and the lay out could be better
(galley style kitchen). Neither of these things were too much of a problem when we bought it as we didn’t have children.
Now we have twin toddlers and the lack of any open plan element is starting to grate. As is the lack of community around us.
However, there are many pluses to the house. If we could create something open plan ourselves, maybe that would be enough- in 1-2 years we should have the funds to do this.
If we did do it, would it be possible to extend in to a car port, which has a first floor extension above it? Realise this would be costly as assume it’s a load bearing wall. Possibly more costly than the value it is likely to add? Buuuut. We’d be able to keep a separate dining room and living room.
Or, better to merge dining room and kitchen, extending only a little, in to the porch off the back of the dining room. We’d then lose the separate dining room, but it would be cheaper than the other option.
Or do we cut our losses and move to a better location in an almost definitely (in our opinion) less appealing house, that may have an open plan element. Obviously we bought just before the Brexit vote and then had twins, so we’ve not had a chance to increase the value much.

I don’t think anyone can really tell us what we should do, but any useful opinions about the kitchen options would be very gratefully received!

Thanks in advance

Ros

Ps. Have attached pics of car port (behind the gate), kitchen and dining room.

Comments (7)

Sarah L
3 years ago
Personally I would knock through the kitchen and dining room. Would be nice to have a seperate utility too.
Jonathan
3 years ago
If there is any doubt that you will get your money back when you come to sell then don’t extend. Given there is every chance you will move for a community feel then make sure you house is as well presented as possible and sell as soon as you can
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Hi Mr Mr, that clarifies things. It would seem that if you go ahead with stairs from the hall then you will lose the smallest bedroom upstairs, presumably currently occupied by the youngest in the family? If so, then do you intend moving them downstairs or will you take the plunge and move yourselves into a new master bedroom downstairs? What will happen to the existing landing at the top of the stair from the dining room - could it be used to replace the lost bedroom? Could it be incorporated into one of the other bedrooms? Could it become a study [if needed]? When we extended a few years ago we took the opportunity to merge two existing bedrooms to give one larger room. The new extension provided two more bedrooms and we 'lost' one other original bedroom to become a 'landing library' open to the staircase so, in effect, a large gallery. In this way we went from a conventional 4 bed to a much larger 4 bed plus library. The house is just so much more usable in its new format. You will usually find that upstairs walls are easily moved as they are non load bearing. However, I am sure most people would agree that you should make the house suit your needs. It is well worth sitting down with a pen and paper and listing what you'd really like to achieve from the building work. If you are planning on this being a long term home then I'd take this opportunity to 'future proof' the layout for you and your family. If you are looking for resale in the foreseeable future then investing the minimum amount to get your kitchen diner is probably the way forward. Either way, good luck. P.S. given a choice, I'd still keep the stairs away from the kitchen smells... but see what the consensus is from the Houzz community.
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Ha ha, I did wonder if that was the case. Planners might deem it overkill if we went out at the side as well as up and it would be on the boundary wall with the neighbour as well. Maybe if it was only a the end section it would be ok but I'd have to ask the planners The issue is that if we built into our driveway then we couldn't have a garage - not one that useable for cars as such. It's not a wide driveway so the garages are all set back into the garden (the owners of this one have removed it so we have to put one in anyway!) I guess it doesn't really matter as long as we leave enough drive behind the gate as I only want a garage to convert into a workshop I presume the value of a garage is really just about having a useable outbuilding??
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Hi Thank you all for your help/advice. Jonathan - thanks for drawing us a plan option. Ideally we would have an L shape kitchen/diner/lounge but we would like the utility at the back of the house and keep a separate toilet - (I always call it the downstairs loo but we have no stairs!!) basically so people don't have to use our main bathroom. So don't think we can do it. We like your ideas for the master bedroom storage and bathroom and layout and see you've moved the study door which is great. The elevation drawings I posted were when we were planning a rear extension the bedroom end - we moved this to the front and feel it works better. This means we'll have a gable roof over this extension and are thinking of having a brick porch with a gable room to balance it out. We think a pitch roof for the kitchen/garage with a flat roof at the rear maybe the best option now and less dominating. Thanks I-architect. We'll check out your checklist. We have been trying to pace out the space. My other half really wants a TV comfy sofa area for him and the kids, I'm less bothered. We think we'll spend most of our time in this room as a family and with friends whereas our lounge is our sanctuary. We agree with you all that it may be best to enlist the help of a pro kitchen designer, space planner that can give us a few options. We naively didn't realise concept planners/designer existed and have gone around the houses a lot already. All a leaning curve. We really can't wait to get it done - we've been living in the bungalow as it is for 5 years and although perfectly liveable - its in desperate need of updating.
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Richard hello I'm intrigued by your dilemma Could I ask you a few questions ? I am assuming this is a detached property.Y/N? 1. How far are the boundaries on each side of the house ? You mentioned the one to the rear is only 6m or 18 feet away. What would be the approximate distances on the : -Front side of the house? -Garage side? -Current living room side ? 2. What or where is the best part of your garden ? 3. Where is the most expansive side of your garden? 4. You mentioned that you are on a sloped site - do you have any good views and from which part of the house? 5. Do you have the plan of upstairs as well for reference? 6. Is this rural setting or in a city or town? I'm not going to begin to put a plan up as I think it would be important to understand the settings and allow this to influence where to expand or whether to expand the house. The basic organisation of the house is an L shaped volume LDK ( LIVE/DINE/KIT) around two sides of an entry hall with access to an upper level and a garage on the other side. The question in my mind is how does one enhance that and instigate a change or modification to the arrangement that produces a cohesive spatial result. I believe the context of the surrounding would influence that significantly- so some pictures would be great. The last thing would be taking space from the centre of a deep plan space leads to dark spaces. Particularly, if the alterations are on the ground floor only so I would try to persuade you otherwise with respect to an approach in that direction .
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Sonia
3 years ago
Extensions can be expensive. I would certainly remove the wall between the kitchen and the dining room and create a nice bright room. We did the same and it’s the best thing we ever did. Our wall was not a supporting wall, but even if it was, adding a steel to support the rooms above isn’t a complicated matter.
PRO
Charlie Dean Interiors
3 years ago
last modified: 3 years ago
Hi Ros, I would have a think about how much extending/ changing layout would cost in all. If you only plan to be there for a few more years at the most then it may be worth considering the move sooner.

However, if you are planning on staying and making some changes, open plan living is a fantastic option for a growing family. Opening the space between the dining and kitchen area would create a lovely big room with plenty of roaming space.

Open plan living is also a very popular option these days so I don't necessarily think it will hamper any future sale with not having the two separate rooms. We have a large number of clients who want to knock walls down and extend to accommodate a more open plan layout and it's certainly an option that is increasing in popularity.

Extending below the car part could be quite costly considering you may want to move in a few years time. Without actually looking at it, it's difficult to determine if it would be worthwhile.

Aimee
Ros Galpin
Original Author
3 years ago
Thanks everyone for taking the time to provide your thoughts- really good for us to get some different and useful perspectives. We’re still deciding, but I think if we do decide to create an open plan space it will be joining the dining room and kitchen, rather than extending in to the car port. Thanks again 😊
Katie Duke
3 years ago
Hi Ros, I agree with other comments re not investing in expensive works if you're not convinced you will be staying in the house for the long term. School considerations may force your hand and you may end up moving. I also agree opening up kitchen and dining would be a good option for a more open feel. Do you use the car port for a car? If not you could consider using this space as some sort of utility area - washing machine, buggy, welly boots, outdoor gear etc. You would need to do a bit
of building work but it might free up space in what would be the new kitchen and allow you more living space in the new room.
PRO
Room-by-Room (UK) Ltd
3 years ago
Hi Ros,

based on your description I would suggest either full or partial removal of the load bearing wall separating the kitchen and the dining room. May I suggest that the ability to close off the kitchen may be advantageous. Therefore an internal bi-fold door or pocket door may give you the flexibility to open or close space as and when needed. Can I further suggest that the load bearing support beam is inserted inside the ceiling void in order to allow natural light to flood the room fully.

Kind regards

Andrew

Extend kitchen in to car port, merge kitchen and dining room, or move?

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Sarah L

Jonathan

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Charlie Dean Interiors

Ros Galpin
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Extend kitchen in to car port, merge kitchen and dining room, or move?

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Sarah L

Jonathan

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Sonia

Charlie Dean Interiors

Ros GalpinOriginal Author

Katie Duke

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Ros Galpin
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